CPS admissions guides

Short, plain-language answers to the questions Chicago families actually search. Everything here is grounded in official CPS material or in dates from past cycles - never in rumors.

How the CPS application cycle works
The ten-minute primer for families new to CPS: who applies, the two GoCPS applications, lotteries and points, tiers, the calendar in seasons, and the words GoCPS uses for offers and waitlists.
Applying to a CPS high school (10-minute video)
For families with a 7th or 8th grader: the whole high school application in order, from the new 640-point scale to choosing schools that fit your child to offers and waitlists.
How the points work
The scoring formula behind Selective Enrollment is public and exact: 640 points this year, with the 900-point history behind every published cutoff. Walk through it piece by piece.
How Pre-K applications work
Pre-K has its own application, called Chicago Early Learning. It is not part of GoCPS. Here are the dates, choices, offers, and steps, from CPS.
When do GoCPS results come out?
What past cycles say about release dates for high school, elementary, and Academic Center results.
CPS tiers, explained
What the four tiers are, how your address decides yours, and why the same score can clear a cutoff in one tier and miss in another.
The selective enrollment tests, explained
Which exam each selective program uses, how a score becomes points, the grade-point gates, the testing calendar, and what CPS itself says about prep.
Community rules
Six rules keep parent discussions useful: pseudonyms for everyone, real experiences with dates, no names of individuals, nothing for sale, source labels that are self-described, and quiet human moderation.